*Addl Secy Council fails to give satisfactory reply
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 1: In yet another suo moto case, the State Accountability Commission (SAC) has issued notices to Chief Secretary B R Sharma and Commissioner/Secretary Transport Department Bipul Pathak asking them to furnish the status of implementation of Jammu and Kashmir Road Safety Policy as no perceptible change has been witnessed with regard to providing safer roads and mobility, which otherwise is the basic intent of the policy.
The draft of the first ever Road Safety Policy was prepared by the State Government through Transport Department and on February 8, 2016 the same was placed before the Governor N N Vohra, who was heading the State at that time. After detailed analysis of the draft, the Governor approved the same with the directions to the Chief Secretary to elicit the views and comments from different stakeholders.
Accordingly, vide Notice No. TR/SRSC-07/2015 dated February 9, 2016 the Transport Department put the draft Road Safety Policy in the public domain. The last date to receive comments and views from various stakeholders was February 29, 2016. On the receipt of suggestions, the Transport Department scrutinized the same and accordingly some of the suggestions were incorporated in the draft.
Thereafter, no focus was laid on the draft of the Road Safety Policy and for several months the same could not be finalized because of non-serious approach of the PDP-BJP Coalition Government. This was exclusively highlighted by EXCELSIOR in its edition dated June 20, 2016 mentioning that despite completion of all the formalities the Government has not preferred to approve the policy so as to pave the way for its notification and then implementation.
It was also revealed by EXCELSIOR that by sleeping over the draft of the Road Safety Policy the Government created road-block in giving practical shape to the initiative taken by the Governor N N Vohra.
The State Accountability Commission took serious note of EXCELSIOR report and accordingly a suo moto case was prepared. Thereafter, notice was issued to the Additional Secretary to the Road Safety Council asking him to apprise the SAC about the reasons behind delay in notification of the policy despite completion of all the formalities.
In his reply, the Additional Secretary in the Road Safety Council informed the Accountability Commission that policy was notified vide Government Order No.64-TR of 2016 dated September 8, 2016 over six months after inviting suggestions and objections from the stakeholders. However, he didn’t furnish information vis-à-vis implementation status of the policy, official sources in the Chief Secretary’s Secretariat told EXCELSIOR.
This has been viewed seriously by the Full Commission comprising Chairperson Justice B A Khan and Members Justice J P Singh and Justice B A Kirmani and now it has issued notice to Chief Secretary, who is also head of the Road Safety Council, Commissioner/ Secretary Transport Department and Additional Secretary in the Council asking them to file detailed and comprehensive reply mentioning the steps taken so far for implementation of various provisions of the Road Safety Policy, sources said.
“These officers have been given time till December 28, 2016 for responding to the specific query of the Accountability Commission failing which SAC may call the personal appearance of senior functionaries of the Government”, they said.
According to the sources privy to the implementation of the policy, several vital provisions of the Road Safety Policy have yet not received the due attention of the concerned authorities till date despite the fact that tragic road accidents particularly in the hilly districts of the State have still remained a matter of serious concern.
The policy states that in order to decrease the vehicle population on roads, the Government will adopt innovative features and modernize the public transport system and in order to achieve this objective operations of J&K State Road Transport Corporation will be increased and smart buses will be introduced to reduce private transport as far as possible.
Interestingly, the JKSRTC has not added required number of new vehicles to its fleet till date as such this provision of the policy has remained confined to the official files only, sources informed, adding similar is the fate of removal of encroachments on the roads, which otherwise is imperative to ensure free flow of traffic.
Contrary to the provision of the policy, none of the Parliamentarians/Legislators has so far come forward to provide some portion of Constituency Development Fund for undertaking road safety works, sources said, adding “in the policy thrust has been laid on enhancing the capacity of traffic laws enforcement agencies but the fact remains that neither Motor Vehicle Department nor the Traffic Police has adequate number of manpower required to check violations”.
“Though the black spots have been found to be the main cause of the road accidents yet their rectification is going on at snail’s pace despite much thrust in the policy”, sources further said, adding “similarly no concrete step has so far been initiated to declare certain business areas as traffic free areas which otherwise has been flagged as vital step in the Road Safety Policy”.
Likewise, no tangible steps have been taken vis-à-vis creation of adequate parking places, equipping Primary Health Centres nearer to roads to cater the requirements of post-crash responses, operation of smart transportation modes with GPS\GIS vehicle tracking system and CCTVs by public/private transporters etc.
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